i have been taking my truck in repeatedly for a hesitating 3rd shift. it acts like its going to shift by droping about 100-200 rpm then stays in third, again drops a few seconds later and then shifts to 4th. EVERY TIME. and ALWAYS shifts into 5th hard. and when everything is cold, like first thing in the morning it shifts like complete crap thru every gear. took it back once again today for the 5th time after all the updates didnt work the other times and got a phone call this afternoon from the dealer saying i need a new torque converter. its been acting like this for at least 10,000 miles and they just now discover this. really hope this fixes the problem... cause the only time i have actually liked this transmission was the first 5,000 miles or so. has anyone else heard of these things going bad so early on these new trucks??

 

Hopefully it does fix it. This is a first that I've read about for the TC.

 

The dropping of a few hundred RPMs in third gear IS normal. That is the torque converter locking. That's how it is designed to work. If yours is shot, it is due to something else and not the third gear behaviour. All of our trucks do that if you're under normal throttle/acceleration.

 

subscribing.... My truck does not like to shift from 3rd to 4th and I have just started getting a surging like feeling. It stays in third gear and will not shift into 4th until I take my foot off of the throttle otherwise it will stay in 3rd gear winding the motor to about 2800 to 3000 and I am not going bery fast either, maybe like 30-35 mph.

 

Interesting thought. Makes sense, and mine does that all the time too. I never thought too much of it. Now, the hesitation when its cold has caught my attention, but it hasn't caused any problems and isn't there constantly (like driving all day its not there most of the time). From what I know there is a TSB for a transmission reflash/update, I just haven't got a square to taking it in.

 

Does it seem to shift better if you drive it harder? Mine has been giving me trouble when I'm driving slower in town, etc. Always shifts hard when its cold as well.

 

I had this happen on a dodge dakota of mine, acted just as you described. the TC started to go and metal shavings started to clog all the electronics in the trans. In the end I had to have the trans replaced as well.

 

My son's Mustang tc went out with 25k on the clock."Bad brazing" was the story on that one, .the vanes would break loose and grind to pieces.They replaced tc then the next week had to rebuild the entire transmission.Service writer said they had a lot of them that were made bad.Said the owners would not be notified,but the tc would be replaced if brought in under warranty.

 

if it is normal, then how come it never did it when it was new?

 

well i certinely hope i dont have any future problems with the trans..

 

That is what happened on mine. Back in June '11 mine was shifting hard 4-5 and was hard down shifting. Metal shavings were found in the shift solenoids so the tranny was rebuilt. after rebuild it was doing exactly what yours is doing and it too was diagnosed as a bad tc. That was replaced and the tranny has been fine since. The problem was around 3,000 miles and now has 17,000 miles and has been fine.

 

Well my truck has been doing this for around 10,000 miles and they finally diagnose a bad tc after all of that time reflashing the truck and saying its normal. The truck is getting worked on right now. Should be done by Wednesday. I'll get back on here and let everyone know how it goes

 

BTW if my trans goes out under warranty a rebuilt trans is unacceptable to me and should be to you as well. they need to be breaking open a brand new crate open with a never used tranny in it. you would be surprised at how few people know how to correctly rebuild an automatic trans/

 

X2 It seems this is rocket science with local shops! I have had several trans rebuilds done on camp trucks and will never do it again!If it isn't factory fresh look at comanies like ATS if possible. When mine goes I will have one of theirs.

 

I fought with Ford about rebuilding a tranny at 3,000 miles but lost the battle. Fords claim was that they could not find anything wrong internally that rebuilding the top end is what they were going to do. The owner of the dealership argued with Ford because he knows that I tow a 15,000 lb fiver. The dealership claims they wil stand behind the rebuild if I have a problem and because the owner is a friend I will give him my confidence that if any problem arises they will help me.